Day 117: Hurting feet, hurting legs, tired and hungry

RUN: 2.0 miles

A two-miler tonight before tea. I'm feeling quite worn out this week.
My legs are starting to ache a bit down the shins and also on my thighs. Also some blisters are starting to reappear each time I run, which hasn't happened for a while.

TIP: If you want soft and lovely and good-looking feet, don't take up running.

Here I am lathering on the surgical spirit in a bid to toughen up these little tootsies. Go away blisters!

Today's run and info here

Day 116: Girls brave the pouring rain

RUN: 4.0 miles

My friends Amy and Donna joined me tonight (or rather I joined them) for a four-mile jog - in the rain.
Not just a little bit of rain, a soaked-to-the-skin, mascara-down-the-face downpour. So good dedication, girls - I'm impressed we made it to four miles despite the weather. Luckily, the rain eased off slightly towards the end.

Here's our four wet miles.

Day 115: Happy birth-day Isla Mae!

RUN : 1.1 miles

Today was the day a beautiful little lady was born... Isla Mae - a new little niece for boyfriend Andy and me. We visited her this evening, and she is gorgeous. A perfect little girl with a perfect little face.

Holding her on the first ever day of her life made me think for a minute of all the mums and dads and new babies affected by cleft lip and palates, even those in developed countries who'll get all the help they need to repair the clefts. What a happy but scary time it must be.

Anyway, happy birth-day Isla Mae! Congratulations Helen and Matt!

There wasn't a lot of time for a run after the hospital trip, so just a quick one-mile scoot up the road and back. Here it is.

Day 114: Be safe, be seen

RUN: 2.1 miles

Just one lap of the route I did yesterday.

With these dark nights, I think it's time to go hi-vis. So I've in-vest-ed in this lovely piece of kit. I do look rather cool in it, I must say. Not really.

 

Here's today's little lap

Day 113: Digging deep for four Monday miles

RUN: 4.0 miles

It took a lot of willpower to venture out into the cold tonight after tea.
I wanted to get a good start for the week, so I'm pleased with four miles.

If I think it was a slog tonight, then it's scary to think of the depths to which I'm going to have to dig to do my marathon training runs of eight, 12, 16 and 20 miles-plus... not to mention the actual marathon. And the winter is only going to get colder. There's some definite manning-up to be done. Grrrr!!

Click to see my four-mile route from today

Day 112: Falling behind on the diary

RUN: 3.8 miles

I am afraid I've been rather lax with my blogging recently. Sorry to all those who regularly check the site to see how I'm getting on - I must try harder to keep on top of things and write up my run notes.
I know from both anecdotal evidence and from the statistics I get on my blog that some people are actually reading this. It's lovely to know that people are interested enough to follow my journey and occasionally read my ramblings.
I've had lots of messages through the site (through the Contact Me page) and a few comments on my posts. I really love it when people get in contact, so if you're reading this, send me a comment... go on!
Just click on the yellow title of the blog, above and fill in the comment box at the bottom. Full instructions on this post I wrote a while ago.

Here's today's (almost) four-mile run I did with my boyfriend Andy

Day 111: Thank you, mystery donor

RUN: 4.0 miles

After yesterday's pathetic attempt, I thought I should put in a good effort, so I took advantage of the weekend daylight to do four miles.

If you were the person responsible for the anonymous donation on my JustGiving site, then thank you very much. I don't know whether it was on purpose or by accident that it was anonymous, but I'm grateful whoever you are.

Here's today's run I did with boyfriend Andy

Day 110: Wobbly legs and a hungry tum

RUN: 2.7 miles

This evening I set out to do the obligatory three miles, around Menston and back in time for tea.
These dark evenings really limit the routes I can do - no heading off into the countryside or down poorly-lit lanes - so I stick to the main roads and vary my routes to avoid boredom and dodgy situations.
I only managed 2.7 miles because I had to cut my route short. I ended up skirting just one side of the park, rather than four because I felt all funny around the two-mile mark. Not good. I'm tired this week and possibly hadn't eaten enough in the day. I'll rest and try to put in a good couple of runs this weekend.

Map and info for tonight's run

Laundry mix-up

Any idea why my running socks have left and right marked on them, when they seem perfectly symmetrical and identical? If two left feet mean you're a bad dancer, what does two right feet mean? Bad at laundry?

Day 109: Tasty fuel in the tank for another late run

Run: 2.0 miles

My work and social life got in the way of my running again today. After work I went out for a lovely meal and catch-up with my friend Carla, and by the time I got home it was quite late and I felt rather sluggish after stuffing myself with yummy Italian food. So not the ideal time to go for a run.
Nevertheless, I headed off on a well-lit route and managed to eke out enough enthusiasm and energy for two whole miles. Not bad.

Here they are.

Day 108: Back at Yeadon Tarn early doors

Run: 1.5 miles

Tonight's plans mean there's no time for a run after work, so I headed back to Yeadon tarn for a few quick laps in the morning.

Here's the same view I took yesterday of the autumnal tarn, this time by daylight

 

Here's my map and information

 

Day 107: Twilight trip to the tarn

RUN: 3.7 miles

This evening my friend Amy joined me for a nice few laps of Yeadon Tarn. By the time we go there it was about 6.30, and the light was fading but there were still plenty of people about.
We did a couple of laps and Amy's knee was hurting, so we decided to carry on around the Tarn, rather than tackle the detour up the hill. After five laps it was rather dark, although there were still people enjoying an evening stroll and walking dogs. So we called it a night at 3.7 miles. A good effort for a Tuesday night with a bad knee. Hope it feels better soon, Amy!

Yeadon Tarn at twilight

 

Here's tonight's five laps of the tarn

Day 106: Race against time to squeeze in a run

RUN: 1.4 miles

Before today I'd never been worried that I would run out of time to fit in a run.
Well, I'm always fitting my runs in between work and seeing friends and family and things, but I have never worried that midnight would arrive without me having finished that day's running.
Today I did.
A very busy day at work left me with just over an hour to get home and get out on a run before the day was officially over. I scooted back, jumped into my kit and ran like the wind up the main road and back down. Not ideal, but it was most definitely my best shot. Today I tried my best, so I am still proud - even though it is only another 1.4 miles to add to my total. This is a hard challenge.

Here's tonight's late jog

Day 105: Now a half-marathon in the pipeline - Liverpool Half Marathon 2012

RUN: 3.0 miles

Signing up for the Leeds Abbey Dash yesterday must have put me in the mood for a challenge, because I have also got my eye on a half marathon for March.

I think I had better do a half marathon before the full Edinburgh marathon in May. So on March 17, the Liverpool Half Marathon seems like ideal timing. Boyfriend Andy is also on board.

 

Today I ran three miles. Here's my map and info.

Day 104: Another 10k in the pipeline - Abbey Dash 2012

RUN: 5.3 miles

Today my boyfriend Andy and I signed up for the Age UK Abbey Dash 10K in Leeds next month.
It's six-and-a-bit miles, from the centre of Leeds to Kirkstall Abbey and back.
So after that I must have been feeling quite energetic because I ran five miles.

36 days to go until the Dash, then, so only a few weeks to try to get my speed up to try to beat my last time of 1hr 3mins. I'd be pretty pleased if I did, but just looking forward to doing the run really - it's a strangely nice experience to run with 8,000 other people.

Here's today's five miles

Day 102: To be sociable or run all alone?

RUN: 4.0 miles

Today is dry. Hooray! So I made the most of it with a four-mile run. I'm busy tomorrow evening, so I'll have to go out running in the morning, which will most likely be a short one given my dislike of morning runs - and mornings full stop, actually.

This evening on my way home I saw a group of runners on their way through Shipley, and I thought it could be the Saltaire Striders.

A few months ago a man jogged past me on the canal and handed me this card for the running group. He said: "Be sociable, come and run with us."

It wasn't too appealing back then, but now I think I would probably be able to keep up with at least some of them, it's seems like a better idea. Perhaps I'll give it a try sometime soon.

Here's my run for tonight

Day 101: Short, soggy jog in the pouring rain

RUN: 1.2 miles

I was planning a longer run for tonight, but by the time I got home from work it was lashing it down, really raining hard.
So I headed out for another quick one. This was the rain as I opened the door...

listen to ‘Rain’ on Audioboo

Not the most inspiring sound.
I was soaked to the skin before I'd run quarter of a mile. That treadmill in the gym is looking rather appealing at the moment.
It's only going to get worse, though, so I think I'll have to man up.

Day 100: ONE HUNDRED days of running for a great cause

RUN: 1.6 miles

I was hoping to do a decent run for my 100th day, but, true to form, I was running short on time.
So here's today's unremarkable run out for a milestone day.

I found this little video on the Smile Train website, which appropriately enough made me smile.
The little baby is so cute. More surgery and expertise funded by Smile Train - how heartwarming.

Day 99: Some tunes to keep me going

RUN: 4.0 miles

Tonight I tried to get out before it got dark. I did my route backwards to leave the main road bit until last to do in the dark, even though it strangely seems more hilly that way.

Anyway, I didn't really feel like running tonight, but luckily I have a bit of an eclectic (dodgy) taste in music and I put some old tunes on to keep me going.

Here's my playlist of songs from tonight, mostly from way before I was born. My plan worked - running along to these made me feel like I was in some sort of training montage from a comedy film set in the 1970s or 80s.

Thanks to my retro playlist I managed to muster enough enthusiasm for four miles. Here they are.